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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Forty Years of Preseason Polls

Have you ever heard the old saying "the more
things change, the more they stay the same?" Well that may be true in
many things but when it comes to the highest classification of football in Alabama that is not
always the case.

I get emails regularly from fans that honestly
believe high school football was invented somewhere around the mid
1990s. They think the teams that rule the high school scene in 2010 have
always been the perennial powers. I assure you nothing could be further
from the truth.

The
teams that were at the top just ten years ago have for the most part
disappeared from view when it comes to the ASWA preseason poll. Only two
teams appear in both the 2000 and 2010 preseason polls, Clay-Chalkville
and Hoover.
Clay-Chalkville was coming off a state title the previous season and
Hoover was in the infancy stages of their amazing run the past ten
years.

The 1970, 1980 and 1970 polls only have one team that appears in the
2010 poll. Vestavia Hills was ranked in 1980 and 2010. Several of
the school have closed and some are too new to have appeared in previous
polls but the point is that just when you think a dynasty may be
occurring something happens that changes the entire landscape of high
school football in Alabama.

So, to all the fans that believe their team has always won
and will continue to win forever, take a look at the past forty years of
polls and state championship winners. In 2020 the preseason poll just
may look entirely different than it does this week.